Gears of War: Angels Encarmine
by Souleater21
Summary: Clayton Carmine, eldest of the Carmine Brothers,goes in search of Delta-One so he can see if his brother Ben survived. When he gets there, he finds out the truth and swears to go on a journey to find his last living brother after the War's End. Clay/Sam.
1. Act 1 Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Gears of War.

Sadly. Otherwise Slate would be official. Legasp.

Slate gray boots thumped against the sandy ground as a dark-skinned, tall man in Gear armour walked to the CNV Sovereign, docked in the distance.

The man, Corporal Clayton Carmine, was very worried. He hadn't seen his brother Benjamin in ages, not since Anthony's makeshift funeral. And now Anthony wasn't the only Carmine that was hastily buried. Clayton's parents, Sarah and Justin Carmine, had died defending Jacinto. Now it was at the bottom of the ocean along with Anthony and his parent's bodies. Defending a sinking rock, Carmine had said at the funeral.

He was just upset. His parents were gone, his younger brother was gone...He just hopped his other younger brothers, Benjamin and David, had pulled through the chaos of Operation: Hollow Storm.

As he thought of his brothers, one of the people loading the ship turned to him. "Hey. You coming aboard?" The crewman said, shaking Clay out of his reverie.

"Yeah." The Corporal replied, stopping to face the man.

"Ok, well, does the Captain know?"

"Yes. Hoffman contacted him and told him about my arrival." Carmine answered, impatient.

"Oh. Well, okay. Go, then." The crewman turned and resumed what he was doing. Meanwhile, Clayton walked to the impressive ship. While others would of stopped briefly to admire the splendor of the massive ship, Carmine rushed past them and into the ship. Once he enterned, he turned to the nearest crewlady and tapped her shoulder. She turned around.

"Excuse me, miss, but do you know where Delta-One is?" He asked, tapping his foot in impatience. He needed to know whether Ben had made it.

"Uh, yeah, they're over there." She pointed to her left. Carmine nodded his thanks and went in that direction.

When he got there, he could easily see them. They sort of stood out, 5 men and two women in Gear armour, milling about in boredom. One of them, a black man with dreadlocks and a beard was trying, in vain, to get something from a vending machine. He didn't recognize him. He recognized Marcus, Dom, Baird, Cole and Anya. But there were new people. A woman with short-hair, and the guy struggling with the vending machine. As he stepped into the room, panic fluttered across his chest. Where was Ben? Carmine quickly dismissed the feeling, trying to convince himself that his younger brother was in the bathroom, or helping load the ship, or something.

Marcus looked up as he entered the room. His expression darkened. Everybody else seemed to notice Clay at that time as well.

"Uh, hello." Carmine said, waving his hand. Now that he'd seen the dark expressions, of well, everybody but the girl and the guy with the vending machine, his worst fears were ignited. He shook the thoughts away and walked up closer to the group.

"Hey, Carmine." Marcus said slowly. Then the others realized. Carmine sighed, realizing what had happened, but still not accepting it.

"Ben?" Clayton asked, hoping with all his heart Marcus would say something like "Oh, he's in the bathroom!" But no such luck.

Marcus sighed, stood up and walked over to Carmine. He took some stuff out of his pocked and droppped them in Carmine's hand. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. Carmine looked down at his hand.

A COG tag lay there, with the name 'Benjamin Carmine' engraved into it. Next to it was a scrap of paper that looked old. It was torn. But Clayton still couldn't register the fact that Ben was dead.

Even though the evidence was in his hand, he couldn't believe it. Clayton breathed heavily, then put the COG tag in his pouch. Then he opened up the letter.

It read:

"_I hope you're doing well out there Clay. Not sure where you are but I trust that the COG will get this letter to you safely. I know that you'll be excited for me, but it'd be great to hear from you before I ship out._

I just wish Anthony was still here bro. I really miss him. I take comfort knowing he died a hero, but still... I miss him, as I'm sure you do too. Well, you know I'm not that good at letters, so I'll keep this short... hope you're doing well, big brother, and know that I'll be doing my very best to serve our country and make you and our family proud.

Your little brother [AKA the Squirt], Ben

"

Then it hit him

Ben was dead. He was never coming back. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. And he still didn't know how Anthony died, which made him angry. He closed his eyes.

Clayton didn't realize he was clenching his fists until he opened up his eyes and saw the letter, crushed within his hand.

Wordlessly, the eldest Carmine brother shoved the letter into his pouch, and looked up at Delta-One. They looked sad. Like they pitied him.

Baird broke the silence. "So you're the Gear that Hoffman told Michaelson he was sending aboard?"

Carmine nodded. "That's me." He responded, he voice cold.

Marcus cleared his throat. "Look, Carmine about Ben-"

Carmine shook his head. "I'm sure you did your best to save him." _Like you did with Anthony. _He thought, but it was pretty hard to save someone from being shot in the head when they were in the open like Anthony was. "So, why aren't we helping the crewpeople load the ship?"

"Baird insisted we have a break." Cole answered.

"By the way, what's your name?" The woman asked.

"Clayton Carmine, and I could ask the same of you and him." Clayton jerked his head toward the one that had problems with vending machines.

"Sam Byrne." Sam replied.

"Jace Stratton." Jace replied, turning from his vending machine after he gave it an angry punch.

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt our introductions, but isn't our break over?" Dom spoke up.

"Oh, yeah..." Baird grumbled.

Soon, the Gears went out to help with the loading.

Well, did ya like it?

If so, review please! Fav it if you really like it!

If not, review anyways and speak your mind.

Remember, an author with reviews is a happy author.

Good reviews, that is.


	2. Nostalgic and Seasick

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

…...

Carmine rooted through his backpack, which contained the few things he brought aboard the Sovereign. Either than his clothes.

There wasn't much. A few books. Lots of ammunition for his Lancer, which he put on his bed. A small bag of bacon, which Carmine ate quickly. And...A photo album. He remembered that he'd put it in there so he could remember his parents and Anthony. Now Ben too. He sat down and looked through the book..

At the front were his parent's wedding pictures. He looked through them quickly, but then got to the next part. It was him, as a baby. Born 15 years before E-Day. He looked through his baby pictures, feeling very embarrassed at all the stupid things he had done as a kid. The pictures matured, thank god, so at the time of Anthony and David's birth (twins), he was 6. The two quickly dominated the photo album, and Carmine was glad to be rid of the things he had done, because most of them were very stupid. Then, 4 years later, Ben came. Carmine realized that his eyes were watering as he read the album. He silently chided himself and continued. Then, near the end of the album, was a picture of the kids of the Carmine family. It's old date was scratched out, and it now wrote 2 B. was in the middle. At his sides were David and Anthony. David looked like he wanted to kill Anthony, and Clay remembered that that was because Anthony had stolen David's favorite toy car and had accidentally gotten it destroyed. Ben was sitting on Clay's shoulders.

Looking at the photo, Carmine got sad, looking at his family, all together, all happy, not knowing at all that the Locust were going to come and fuck everything up hard. Clayton slammed the book shut and threw it on his desk. That was the last of the stuff in his backpack. The Gear threw the backpack under his desk, and put the ammunition in the desk's cupboards. Munching on a piece of bacon, he stormed outside, onto the deck.

…...

Blood splattered the young Gear as his chainsaw bayonet tore through the Drone. With a thump, the drone collapsed, very, very dead. The Gear looked up and swore.

A Boomer had joined the fucking party. The Gear, shot at the Boomer, hoping to injure it, or, even better, kill it dead. The bullets just sank into the Boomer's flesh and pissed it off.

"Goddammit! Die!" The Gear shouted as he shot blindly at the boomer. That only served to piss it off again and alert it to the Gear's position. Lifting up it's Boomshot, it screamed. "Boom!" It fired. The gear rolled to the side, but he wasn't quick enough. His ears rang and his feet stung as he flew through the air, and, quite conveniently, next to his squad's sergeant.

"You okay, private?" The Sergeant asked firing at the Boomer.

"Well, in between my bloody, aching feet, and my broken ribs, I think I'm fine! In fact, this is the best I've ever been! When I'm half-dead, that is." The gear said sarcastically firing blindly over the barrier in the hopes of hitting something.

"None of your back talk, Carmine." The sergeant growled as he lifted up the Gear,

"Thanks." David muttered as he tried to regain his balance. When he did, he pulled out his longshot. He could see the Boomer, firing at the rest of the squad, exposing his head. David lifted up his Longshot and aimed at the Boomer's squishy, unprotected head. "This is for Anthony, you grub-son-of-a-bitch." Then he fired.

…...

Clayton wandered through the ship, feeling quite bored and very sad. He had just left the cabin to get away from the stupid photo album, and the stupid photos, and that stupid photo at the back in particular.

He was unarmored. As he wandered past Baird's room, he noticed that the door was open and Baird was tinkering with something.

"Hey, Baird." Carmine threw a greeting at the techie. Baird cursed, and turned to Carmine.

"Goddammit, Carmine. Why? Why?" He groaned. "I was almost done, and then you come, distract me, and fuck everything up! Thanks!"

"You're welcome." Carmine said, amused. "I'm guessing you want the door shut?"

"Of course I do! Because if it isn't closed, you'll fuck everything up again!" Carmine wasn't paying attention, and closed the door anyways, and walked away. Baird grumbled some curses under his breath and returned to his tinkering.

Clayton walked, wallowing in his grief, to the ship's exterior. As he got outside, he looked upwards, to the night sky. The stars twinkled in the sky, a truly beautiful sight. Before the Hammer of Dawn Counterattack, in most cities you couldn't see the stars or the moon. Now, the stars twinkled brightly in the night sky, along with a beautiful, glowing white moon.

The Sovereign was moving at a fairly leisurely pace, churning the water. It was crisp, and a light breeze blew. The ship rocked rhythmically, back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Carmine felt sick in his stomach. Dammit.

He had no idea he was going to get seasick. Great.

He rushed to the side of the ship, a gifted the beautiful, imulsion-choked sea with a some bacon. Some predigested bacon, but bacon nonetheless. "Jeez Louise. Can't believe this-" He muttered, but was interrupted by another salvo of stomach acid. "God, that was some perfectly good bac-" Yet another surge of stomach acid interrupted him.

"Carmine?" Someone asked. Clayton turned his head slightly. Sam.

"Hey. I'm just a bit sea-" He got his head over the side of the ship before he could vomit. _Splash._ "Yeah, just a bit seasick."

Sam snickered. "Well, a bit?" She asked, feigning innocence.

"More than a bit." Carmine admitted after he vomited again. For some reason, he felt embarrassed. Probably nothing. And if it was something, it was the fact that he was vomiting over the side of the ship, mixed with the embarrassing baby pictures of himself he had endured.

Sam laughed. "Well, you okay?" She asked.

"Blargh." He muttered, turning to Sam. "Well, I've been better." Sam walked up to beside him and looked up at the stars.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" She said after a few moments of silence.

"The stars? Yeah, they are. I remember before E-Day. We couldn't see anything, all the imulsion clogging up anything." He sighed. "I never thought anything good would come out of E-Day, or anything else coming out of the Hammer of Dawn Counterattack, you know, either than the Locust being decimated."

"Yeah." She said. They were silent again. Except for the occasional barf by Clayton. Then Sam spoke again. "I'm sorry about Ben."

Carmine was silent, but when he spoke next, his voice was filled with grief. "Well, things like that happen in war. People die. Sometimes you can stop it. Other times...well, people die. Like Ben and Anthony."

"Anthony?" Sam asked quietly, now looking at Carmine.

"My other brother. There was Anthony, and Ben and David...And, if my, and his, luck runs good, David's alive. Anthony was also with Marcus. Got sniped."

"Well...I'm sorry to hear that. My dad was killed before I was born. In the siege of Anvil Gate, he could've gotten away with my ma, but he stayed with his mates. And got killed."

Carmine was silent. "Well, now it's my turn to be sorry to hear something." He sighed. "My parent's are dead too. Died in the Siege of Jacinto."

The two looked at each other for a moment, silent.

Then Carmine vomited on Sam.

…...

Well, REVIEW.

Please. Reviews are an author's food.

Also, to my reviewers, thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the little bit at the end.

Also, yeah, David's alive.

For now.


	3. Avenger

DISCLAIMER: Own me, nothing, owns me. Gears of War, least of, Gears Of War.

Happy Halloween!

SUPER HYPERSPEED UPDATE

OoOoOoOoO

Sam wasn't expecting to see anyone when she went onto the ship's deck to get a better look at the stars. Least of all Carmine.

Truthfully, she'd expected him to be grieving, but he must have moved on pretty quickly. That's what she thought.

When she mentioned Ben, she discovered how wrong she was.

On a different note, he was unarmored. He was tanned and muscular, and had short, cropped dark brown hair. His brown eyes were serious and filled with sadness. His COG tag hang from his neck.

When their pleasant conversation took a dark turn, and the two ended up looking at each other, Sam didn't know what to think.

She was confused, really. About what she was feeling. She didn't know what exactly it was, but she felt...she didn't know how to put it. While she was thinking about that, Carmine's seasickness seemed to return.

Which wouldn't have troubled her so much if he hadn't barfed on her.

"Holy fuck, Carmine!" She cursed, raising up her arms in surprise, and trying to dodge. She failed miserably, and now was fairly miserable, covered in Carmine's barf.

"Oh, Jeez Louise I'm-" He vomited over the edge of the ship. "Ack, I'm sorry Sam!" He apologized. "I didn't mean to-" _blarg _"do that-" _blarg _"Jeez Louise, why the hell-" _blarg _"am I-" _blarg _"-ing so much?" _blarg. _Clayton's fractured phrases degenerated into a stream of cussing that was somewhat dimmed by the blarging.

Sam took a deep breath.

It was just vomit. She'd been covered in worse.

Such as Locust blood. Or Imulsion.

When she calmed down she snickered a bit. "Okay, Carmine, I'll just leave you to that and go get cleaned up. Don't vomit up anything important, okay?" And with that she went back to her cabin.

"Hey, Sa-" _Blarg _"Okay then, bye!" Carmine yelled, waving good bye as he continued to vomit.

OoOoOoOoOo

After Carmine finally stopped throwing up, he walked back to his cabin. Once he got there, he cleaned himself up and plopped down on his bed. He sighed. _Well, I made a great first impression. _He thought sarcastically. Sam was probably cursing him as she cleaned up.

As he lay there in thought, his gaze drifted to the photo album. He reached over and picked it up again. He looked at it for a few moments, not wanting to open it and welcome more pain and not wanting to leave it there for eternity.

After a minute or so, he decided to take another look at it.

And so he did.

While he did, he thought about his family. More specifically, he thought about his brothers.

Anthony had always been the clown of the group. He joked around, pulled pranks and caused general mayhem. He was bullheaded and stubborn, and refused to give up.

Clayton missed him dearly.

David, in sharp contrast, was a thinker. He was quieter and more soft-spoken. He was intelligent, that much was sure. He had an eye for detail, and thus an eye fit for a sniper. His dad said that he had a wisdom beyond his years.

Clayton hoped he hadn't died.

But both David and Anthony had been loud, obnoxious and stubborn boys that refused to give up. Ben was different.

He was quiet and shy. Being the youngest of the family, everyone else had called him squirt in an affectionate way. But he was compassionate and intelligent. But, he was always willing to sacrifice himself to save the others, always willing to protect. He was like a puppy dog in his blind devotion.

Clayton wished he had protected him better, or that he had really known how Anthony had died.

But two of them were dead. Killed in this goddamn war. Clayton hated the war. He hated it with a passion, more so than anything else.

Well, except for Locust and the Lambent.

He hated them for causing it. For causing the war that killed millions, including Anthony, Ben, and their parents.

He wanted them to know how it felt.

To be attacked, for absolutely no reason, in the safety of your own homes.

Having loved ones ripped apart infront of your eyes.

Clay had been 14 at the time, going on 15.

He had been taking care of the kids when it happened.

Locust burst up from everywhere, killing everything in sight. Clay, in his panic, got his brothers to hide in their basement, and had found an old Lancer, and protected them.

That was the die that he first killed.

A few drones came down to deal with them.

He somehow killed them.

By that time, help had arrived, and the Carmine family safely (if you could call it that), well, saved.

OoOoOoOoOo

David's head hurt. Well, more acurrately, it throbbed. David opened an eye experimentaly.

He was buried under some rubble. Probably parts of a wall. He pushed out of it, ignoring the pain.

What had happened? He asked himself blankly. Then he remembered. A Boomer had picked him up and threw him through a wall. The pieces of the wall that had covered him. He looked around for his lancer, and when he found it, he turned to the scene.

The scene of his squad's fate.

Most of the other squad members were quite dead. Pounded into the ground. Still bleeding from gunshots. One was still burning, the affects of an inciendiary grenade. The boomer that had thrown him was dead. The only survivor, either than him, was the squad's leader, Sergeant Troy Brinkman.

Troy was currently under the supervision of a couple Locust, who conversed with each other, periodically kicking the sergeant and laughing at his grunts of pain. They were probably holding him hostage so a superior could come and interrogate him later.

David estimated his chances.

4, no, 5 Drones against him. Sounded about right. By his estimates, he'd be able to kill one or two with the element of surprise. Then, Troy could be able to get up and help.

If he wasn't too badly injured.

With a deep breath, David burst from behind the wall and shot one of the Drones in the back of the head. It dropped with a thunk. The other drones mobilized, firing at David quickly. David dived behind some cover. A grenade? No, he might hurt the Sergeant. What about a smoke grenade? He picked one up from a dead comrade, and then threw it over the barricade.

A second later, the smoke started up. David turned around and leapt over the barricade, plowing into the nearest drone. The drone, surprised by the turn of events, was helpless as David cut through it with his chainsaw bayonet. He heard a gunshot, and dodged randomly. But no bullets were shot at him.

_They shot sarge. _He realized with a sinking feeling.

Well, that wasn't going to go unpunished. Figuring his sarge was dead anyways, he threw a frag grenade into the smoke., then dived for cover.

_Boom. _That was accompanied by the screams of the drones as they were gibbed. David chanced a look over. All dead.

After checking the area, he went through the painful job of collecting the COG tags of his fallen allies.

OoOoOoOoOo

_Knock Knock Knock._

The knocking of the door shook Clay from his thoughts. He hastily threw the photo album somewhere, anywhere, and asked. "Who is it?"

"Sam. You still barfing out your supper?"

"No. I'm done with that." He said, as he walked over to open the door.

"Hey, Carmine. Oh, so this is your room. Lovely." She said sarcastically, surveying the mess of a room.

"Hey, I've only just moved in."

"So in a week it'll be worse?"

Carmine laughed. It was the first time he'd laughed in some time. "I suppose so. So, why'd you come?"

"Well, I guess I came to continue our lovely conversation."

"You call that a lovely conversation? I call it an eulogy." Carmine answered with a bit of humor.

"Well-Hey, what's that?" Sam pointed at the photo album and started moving towards it.

"Hey, no, not that!" Carmine said in panic. As he tried to stop Sam from getting to the photo album he tripped over his bag and fell over the photo album and into his closet. A crispy bit of bacon fell from a jacket pocket and into his face. _Well, no point in wasting good bacon. _He ate up the bacon ravenously.

When he finished his delicious bacon, he rose out of the closet and saw Sam looking into the Photo Album. Carmine sighed. No point in taking it. That wouldn't solve a thing.

Carmine turned and plopped onto his bed.

After a few minutes, Sam closed the album. "Sorry about that." She said quietly, throwing the album on the bed.

Clayton sighed. "Hey, it's alright. I probably would've done the same in your position."

Sam was silent. Their eyes met again.

Like last time, Carmine was still thinking about his family. Most of them were dead, remembered in the form of COG Tags. But then his mind drifted away, to Sam. Then he remembered something, and chuckled.

Sam was surprised by the change in his attitude. "What's up?"

"Sorry for, uh, vomiting on you." Carmine replied. "I had no idea I'd get so seasick. Then again, this is my first time on a boat, so that's not really surprising."

Sam laughed. "Well, you're forgiven. I guess." Sam looked at the electronic clock lying on Carmine's desk. "Oh, shoot, gotta go. It's time for me to go. This is when I decided to go annoy Baird."

"Well, when I was out earlier, I distracted him from his work and he made some mistakes." Clayton chuckled. For some reason he felt jealous. He shook the feeling away.

"Heh, I'm guessing he was ecstatic about that. Okay, bye Carmine." And with that she left, leaving Carmine on his bed, alone with his thoughts.

OoOoOoOoOo

REVIEW.

So, this chapter was fun to write.

I'm also happy with it's length.

So, once again, REVIEW.

Okay, update to answer to the swarm of reviews.

David is blissfully unaware of Ben's death and Carmine's location, but he knows about Anthony's death.

I'm also not the first writer to pair them-I've read another.

And yes, vomiting on a girl IS a great way to begin a relationship.


	4. Tattoo

DISCLAIMER: I own a big pile of NOTHING. Except for this story.

Once again, super hyperspeed update!

OoOoOoOoOo

Frankly, Clayton Carmine had no idea why he was doing what he was doing.

What was he doing?

Spying. On Baird and Sam, for whatever reason. Probably had something to do with the jealousy he had felt last night. But, he still didn't really know why the hell he felt that. He was hiding in Baird's closet.

Somehow, he had found the ability to be sneaky, because he was sure if the two found out he wouldn't still be in the condition for spying.

Or breathing.

Anyways, it wasn't really much. The two were just insulting each other, while it seemed Baird was trying to work on something. Baird's...whatever, didn't seem to be going very well, which probably had something to do with Sam's harrassing.

_Thankfully, not sexual harrassing. _Carmine was caught off guard by the sudden thought, but pushed the thought away.

"So Baird, whatcha making?"

"Something that will shut you up, hopefully."

"Hmph. I'd like to see you pull that off."

"Like you could do better."

"I could."

"Well, amaze me." There was a clinking sound as Baird pushed some stuff towards Sam. There was a brief period of silence. Then, Clay wasn't sure what happened, he thought Sam picked up Baird's incomplete project and threw it at him. "Hey!" Baird said, surprised. Then there was a crash. "Oh, goddamnit! It's broken! Thanks a lot, Sam!"

"No thanks needed. Have fun." And with that, Sam left the room, leaving Baird alone to his tinkering and cursing. Well, alone with Clay, but he didn't know that and didn't have to.

Then a new problem presented itself to Clayton;getting out. _Easier said than done, _thought Carmine. Then he was saved from coming up with a way to get out undetected. Baird got up, probably steaming, and left, still grumbling about whatever he had been making.

Carmine risked a peek outside of the closet. The room was empty. He opened up the closet, closed it quietly behind him, and walked out the door, into the hallway. He turned in the direction of his room, and walked there, thinking about what he had learned.

They didn't seem to get along that well. Shocker. _I mean, all they did was insult each other. __Not much else. _He thought, mulling it over as he walked down the corridor.

While he was walking, he saw Dom come from the corner.

"Hey Dom," Carmine greeted him. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hi Carmine. Not bad." Dom replied, continuing down the hall. While Dom passed him, Clayton noticed something.

"Oh, wait, Dom!" He turned, calling after Dom, who turned.

"Yeah?"

"When did you get the tattoo?" Carmine asked. When he had seen Dom at Anthony's makeshift funeral, it had just been a tattoo of his wayward wife Maria. Now it seemed to be an angel.

"Oh...this..." Dom started, sounding uncertain. He took a deep breath. "When we out and about earlier, before Hollow Storm, we...we found Maria. S-She wasn't exactly mentally healthy...so...so...I-I had to euthanized her." He explained.

Carmine was surprised. Maria had lost it, then, and Dom had to kill her to put her out of her pain. "Well, sorry about bringing it up then." Clayton said after a period of silence. "Uh, I'll go now." He said jerking his thumb in his cabin's direction but not really moving.

Dom breathed heavily. "It's okay, Carmine. To answer your question, Sam gave it to me. She's good with tattoos." He answered, and then he walked away.

_Sam? _Carmine thought. _Oh, so she's good with tattoos, eh?_

OoOoOoOoOo

"Hey, Sam!" Clay called out, seeing her in the halls. She turned towards him.

"Yeah? What is it?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Well, I heard from Dom that you're good with tattoos...And, I was wondering if you could give me a tattoo?"

The question put Sam in a good mood. "Oh, of course? Whaddya want?"

"Uh, well..." Carmine explained his idea, and showed Sam a very badly drawn concept image.

Sam snickered. "Nice piece of artwork. Of course I'll do it. Come to my cabin, in about an hour." She said, and then left.

"Okay, see you then!"

OoOoOoOoOo

Sam had the tattoo stuff ready when Clay arrived.

"Hey, Carmine, just sit in this chair here." She said pointing to a chair.

"'Kay." Carmine obliged. He had gotten a tattoo before, so he could guess how this would go.

Soon afterwards, Sam began the tattoo.

"So, Carmine, say something." She prompted after a brief period of silence.

"Well...Hnph. What should I say?" He asked, flinching involuntarily.

"I don't know...Say something, at least."

"I did."

"Hilarious. How about you tell me about your family?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I want to know about your brothers. I didn't really interact with Ben much, sadly. Too busy annoying Baird."

"Annoying Baird must be fun."

"It's a blast. Stop stalling."

Carmine sighed. "I guess I'll start with Anthony." He said, relenting. "Anthony was always up to something. Always a scheme involved. You couldn't go a day without being pranked by him at least once. David was usually his target. He'd set up these elaborate traps that would drop a carton of eggs on you, or douse you with water. Heh, one time he said that David had been dragged into the sewer grate by a boogeyman." Carmine sobered a bit. "Kind of like the Locust. Anyways, I actually believed him, for some reason, and rushed to the scene.

"And promptly fell into the trap. He had pulled off the grate, and had thrown a recording of David screaming for help down there. As I went there, David dumped a bucket of water balloons on me, then jumped on me and then Anthony attacked me. I fended them easily enough." He sighed. "God, I miss him."

"What happened to him?" Sam asked.

"Well, Ben and David were told he died heroically, saving the rest of the squad. He didn't. He got shot in the head when he asked the then leader of the squad to help him with his lancer. He and Ben always had troubles reloading it."

"Yeah, I remember Ben and his lancer." Sam sighed.

"Yeah. Hence the things on my armour, you know? Practice Reloading and Keep Your Head Down. Anyways, about David. David was-is-a genius. He always got good grades in school, even better than I did." Clay sighed contentedly at the memory. "One time everybody in the school took the same test. I almost failed. David got the highest marks in the school. When the shit hit the fan, he came up with clever plans to keep our family alive through the carnage. Then him and Anthony got enlisted. I haven't seen him in over a year. I hope he's alive."

"He'll be alive, trust me." Sam reassured Clay.

"What can you do to insure his survival?"

"Hope?"

"That's all we can do right now, isn't it?" Carmine sighed. "Anyhow, Ben. Ben was a good kid. He was friendly, passionate and caring. He had lots of friends and treated everyone equally. But, damn, he was naïve and gullible. One time Anthony had this whole convuluted prank that made Ben think David and our parents had turned into pigs, and that Ben was too young to be affected, Anthony too awesome, and the fact that I would've eaten myself if I were a pig stopped me from turning into one. Then he said that I ate David and our parents.

"That drove Ben nuts, because he believed it. Of course, when everyone found it, Anthony got in a shitheap of trouble." Clayton closed his eyes. "Those were the good days."

Sam was silent for a bit. "Well, I don't know much about my family. My ma was driven nearly mad with grief that my da had abandoned us to stay with his mates. She wasn't much of a mother, and I didn't have any siblings. So, there isn't much I can tell you about them."

A while later, Carmine's tattoo was done. It showed Ben and Anthony's helmets, forever preserved on Clayton's arm.

Clay stared at the tattoo. "Thank you so much, Sam. I owe you."

"No, no you don't." Sam "You made my day. Okay, off with you. I need to tidy up."

"Heh, okay, see ya Sam!" Carmine said, leaving the room and looking at his tattoo.

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Yay! Super long chapter!

By the way, Review. I need reviews. Otherwise I'll die. And so will the story.

Just a reminder.


	5. Advice and Mirages

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Gears of War.

Hey!

Another update! Yay!

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Now, Clayton Carmine wasn't exactly the smartest person on Sera, but he could read his own damn emotions. Like when he was bonding with someone.

In this case, Samantha Byrne. At first, Clay didn't know what he was feeling, but that was due to the grief that had overwhelmed him after he learned of Ben's death. But now? Even a dumbass like him knew when he was falling for someone. Heck, it explained the jealousy surrounding Baird and Sam, the embarrassment when she caught him seasick, the happiness he felt when with her.

That was week ago, when he met her. When the Sovereign set out into the Lambent-choked waters.

A week since he learned of Ben's death.

_Positive thoughts, Clay, positive thoughts. _Carmine told himself.

Right now, he was eating in the mess hall. Sadly, it wasn't bacon day. He just had to settle for pancakes and eggs. Which almost made up for the lack of bacon. Almost.

He speared a yolk on the tip of his fork, and brought it into his mouth, savoring the deliciousness.

"Oi, Carmine!" Sam's voice broke him out of his thoughts. Which of course, the fact that she was there, brought back his earlier thoughts. She walked over to him with her own plate of food. She plopped down next to him. "How's it going?" She asked casually.

He pretended to think about the question. "Well, breakfast is delicious, so I suppose it's a good day so far. Oh, I had a good sleep, so now it's a great day. But wait, there's no bacon, so it's back to a good day." He replied. In reality it didn't matter that much that he had no bacon. Sam was there, so it was a great day, in his eyes. "How's it going for you?"

Sam thought about it for a moment. "Well, so far all's good. Good sleep, good food." She answered, cutting up a pancake.

As he was eating, Carmine saw Baird scowling at him. _What's his problem? _he thought. With his luck, Baird liked Sam too and it would turn into a shitfest. _Think positive. _Clay reprimanded himself mentally. If Baird _did _like Sam, he'd deal with that when it presented itself. Which, thankfully wasn't now. (A.N: To me, Baird and Sam have a brother-sister relationship, and Baird, in this context, is just concerned for Sam, mainly because Carmines have the annoying tendency to die.)

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The sinister crunch of bone echoed through David's head as he shattered the drone's neck. The Locust writhed for just a second, then twitched, dead. David kicked the dead body away and surveyed the area. That was the last of the group. He'd been tracking them for a couple of days, slowly picking off those that wandered off before getting bored of his hunt and finishing it off. It had been like a dying animal, slowly losing the use of some limbs before finally dropping to the ground, useless, as it's hunter got bored. David then started looting the dead group. Ooh, some ammunition. A couple frags. Some COG tags they had taken as loot. He added them to ever growing bag of tags. His squad mate's tags were in there. His sarge's. Those of some dead Gears he had found the other day. And these ones.

These thoughts brought him thoughts of his family. _Anthony, Ben, Clay, Mom and Dad. I wonder who's still alive? _Now, Anthony was dead. His twin. His heart twanged with grief. He had no ideas about the others. They could all be dead. Or all alive.

Could be either.

David kicked aside a rusty old can. It rolled into the corpse of one of the drones. David sighed, and looked at the sun. By the looks of things, it was about 8'o clock in the morning.

If he was fast, he might be able to get to Hanover by sunset.

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After breakfast, Clay left the mess hall, feeling thoroughly happy with his meal, despite the lack of bacon. Ahhh, wonderful wonderful bacon.

As he was reminiscing of the delicious, the nice, crispy crunch of bacon fresh off of the stove, he heard someone calling out his name.

He turned towards the mess hall. Anya. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Could we talk?"

"About what?"

"Stuff." Anya replied as Sam walked by.

"Oh, see ya later Carmine." She waved him goodbye as she walked past. That earned him another glare from Baird. Notice, he was the one that got the glare, not Sam, even though she was the one that had said goodbye. Seriously, what the fuck was his problem? Clayton had to resist the urge to ask. Or, better yet, punch him in the face. Which was a lot harder to resist.

Anya took a while to respond. By the time she decided to, Marcus and her had time to exchange a few meaningful looks, whatever the fuck that meant, and enough time for Baird to throw him another dirty look.

Clayton had to resist the urge to ask him _What is your problem?_

He was exempted from having to when Anya finally responded. "Sam."

Oh, fuck.

OoOoOoOoOo (A.N: I laugh at you.)

David trudged through the wastes, sweating heavily. His lenses were getting all fogged up by all this damned walking in the middle of nowhere. He barely knew what direction he was going in, just that Hanover was in that direction. He was thirsty. Even when he had rationed up his squad's water, then even when he drank only a little bit every so often, he ran out quickly.

And everyone knows what happens when you're thirsty in the desert.

Mirages. Soon the settled down. At first it was the cliché stuff. Oasis. He didn't fall for that one, considering, oh, I don't know, the Hammer of Dawn?

Then came the hard stuff. Bottles of water lying in the dust. COG tags. Clay. Ben. Mom and Dad.

Anthony.

He tried to resist. He couldn't. He was going towards them, blubbering and overjoyed to see them. That all changed when he walked through them. Then he realized. Mirages.

Like the silhouettes in the distance. The disturbingly locust-like silhouettes that were growling.

Wait.

Mirages don't growl.

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"Look, look, look, whatever anyone-" Carmine started, raising his hands in defense.

"Pfft, no one told me. I know when someone is in lo-" The expression on Carmine's face at the word made her change her choice of words. "When someone is falling for someone else." That choice of words seemed to be okay for Clayton's child-like emotional palette.

Carmine seemed to deflate a bit. "Aaaaaaah, how can you help?" He whined.

"By giving you advice." She offered.

"Like what?" At least Carmine seemed to be considering the prospect.

"Like spending more time with her."

"Tried that. A while ago, she gave me a tattoo." He showed it to her.

"Good, that's a start."

"Yeah. What else?"

"Listen to her problems. Try to make time to be with her."

Carmine considered it. He blinked as he processed these thoughts. Then he seemed to remember something, and let out a groan.

"What's wrong?" Anya asked, concerned.

"Oh, you know what's wrong? It's-" He made strangling motions with his hands. "Gah! It's Baird! He throws me dirty looks every time I spend time with Sam, or when we talk, or, well, anything!" He seemed to think about something else. Then he whispered something queitly that Anya couldn't hear.

"What was that?" Anya asked, furrowing her brow.

"Urgh, nothing! Nothing. Nothing." Carmine said in a frenzy.

Anya shook it away. Whatever, she'd find out later. "So, Baird..." She mused. She already knew why Baird was doing what he was doing. "Well, I can't do everything for you."

"Hey, but-"

"I'm not a relationship advice monkey." She said sternly.

"Gah! Fine, I'll deal with it." Clay muttered resentfully. He fingered his holster, where a Snub Pistol was holstered. It occurred to Anya that Clay's methods of problem solving were probably a bit unothodox. And violent.

_Ah well, it'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?_

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And, here's the new chapter! Hope you enjoyed! If you did, review! If you didn't, review anyways!

Now, If Clay had his way he'd be looking for David right now. But, Marcus is in charge and he'll start looking after GoW 3.

Now, thanks Mcknight for the idea.


	6. Battle of the Hanover Wasteland

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Sorry for the huge delay.

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"Well, fuck." David muttered as the locust began to advance in the distance. He reached behind him and pulled out his specially made Longshot.

It was unique. It had a chainsaw bayonet like the Lancer, which had a been a pain to install. He loaded it quickly and looked into the scope.

There were about 10 locust. 6 Drones, 2 Grenadiers, 1 Boomer and a...what was that, a Kantus in armour!

"Fuck." He cursed again. This would not go well. _Might as well thin them out a bit. _He thought, placing the cross hair on the one of the Grenadier's heads. BAM. Two seconds later, blood spurted out of the Grenadier's head and it collapsed. The other ones seemed surprised, and started to speed up.

By the time they got halfway, two drones were lying dead in the sand, accompanied by the final Grenadier.

David reached for another cartridge of ammunition. But he couldn't feel anything. Fuck. Out of Longshot ammo. So, he holstered his Longshot and took out his lancer, and started firing at the advancing 6 Locust. One of the drones cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. However, when he shot the Kantus, all the rounds pittered harmlessly off of the armour.

So, David pulled the switch, revving up the Chainsaw Bayonet, and charged the nearest one. Which happened to be a drone. The bayonet sliced through the flesh with ease, slicing up organs and muscle alike. The drone twitched and coughed up some blood. David threw it off his blade and slashed at another drone, hitting the neck, causing the severed part to sail off in an arc! (A.N:I couldn't resist)

The last drone wasn't much luckier, and got riddled by a series of Lancer shots. It roared in agony and dropped to the ground, very dead.

Then, something hard and metal smashed into his side, sending him reeling backwards, and causing him to drop his lancer. _What just hit me?_He thought, dazed. Some sort of...metal...ball...Then it unfurled. The metal Kantus. It struck him in the face with the butt of its pistol, knocking him down. Then, it stomped on his chest, pushing the air out of him. It raised its pistol and growled successfully.

_Is this it? Am I gonna die here? _David thought. Everything had seemed to slow down. _No. This is not the end. _He told himself. _I gotta see Ben, and Clay, and Mom and Dad. I can't die now. Not now. Not yet. Not like this. _

David reached into his belt just before the Kantus pulled the trigger. When it did, he jerked his head sideways. The bulets flew harmlessly into the sand, sending it flying up into the air. Then, he plunged his hand upwards.

The Kantus went rigid as the dagger cut into its stomach. Then, because there is no kill like overkill, David pulled out his pistol and shot it in the face.

The Kantus joined its brothers in arms in death as it tumbled backwards. David stood up, triumphant. _I won! _He thought in his joy. _Heh heh, I'm alive! _

Then something behind him growled. David froze, then turned his around.

The Boomer. He had forgotten about that. David turned around, knife and pistol at the ready, and started backing up. "Nice Boomer, nice giant monster with rocket launcher..." The boomer hoisted up said rocket launcher and prepared to fire.

Then, the sound of a revving engine cut through the air. The Boomer whirled around, just in time to get hit by the vehicle. Someone had fitted spikes on the front of it, so it cut into the Boomer's gut with ease. The Boomer writhed painfully. David then regained some sense, and shot it several times in the back of the head.

It fell backwards, off of the vehicle, which was stained with locust blood. Two stranded sat in the vehicle.

"Oh God, I'm so glad to see you." David panted, picking up his Lancer. "Thanks, by the way." He added, looking at the boomer's corpse.

"No problem. Want a ride?" The stranded that was driving asked.

"Yes...yes please. To Hanover."

"That's where we're going." The other stranded said, motioning to the back seat. "Get in. There'll be more."

And so David got in, and they drove off into the night.

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David must have fallen asleep during the ride, because he woke up and found himself in a nice bed. They must have reached Hanover, got him out, and placed him in the bed. And taken his armour off. David winced as he sat up. His back hurt. He reached behind him to touch it. It was wrapped up in bandages.

So, he must've been hurt.

Then again, you don't survive flying through a wall and being ran over by a metal ball without taking any wounds.

David swung his legs off of the bed and stepped towards a chair in the corner. His armour and equipment was seated there. He grabbed his pistol and checked to see if it was loaded. It was. He shoved it into his holster and walked out.

He flinched involuntarily at the sunlight. Looked like noon. Stranded were milling about peacefully. Well, relatively peacefully. Many were looking at him and fingering their guns. Those who weren't looked worried, and the rest were sitting on the roof, watching for attackers.

"Hey, if it isn't our buddy!" He turned around suddenly. The two stranded that picked him up were there.

"Oh, hi..." He trailed off.

"I'm Jim and this is Bob. And you are...? When we took of your armour, there was a lot of COG tags, and we didn't know who you were." The stranded that had been driving last night answered.

"David Carmine. Those are my squad member's tags. By the way, have you seen any other Carmines lately?" He asked hopefully.

"No. Family?"

"Yes."

"Well, after you get patched up, you can go on your way again." Jim stated.

"Thanks. For picking me up and everything." David said graciously.

"No problem." Said Bob.

David turned around and looked out of the fort.

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Took a while, huh?


	7. Onyx Interlude

Disclaimer: I own a big deal of nothing, except for this story.

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David was sitting in the room the stranded had given him, on his bed.

He was grateful for their generosity, and their kindness. Truthfully, he expected stranded to be a bit more opposed to the COG due to the whole...abandonment thing. But no. They were forgiving. They healed him and saved him and fed him.

And he was thankful. But he had to leave soon. He wasn't fully healed yet, so he was thinking he would leave tomorrow.

If he survived that long.

Pushing away the pessimistic thought, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded up piece of paper. It was crinkled and worn, looking like it had been unread for some time.

He unfurled it and read it again.

He still couldn't believe it.

It was an invitation to the Onyx Guard. He had gotten it before Operation: Hollow Storm, so before Prescott ran off with the remaining Onyx Guard.

He had never really gotten around to accepting or declining the invitation. Yes, he was honoured. Apparently he showed a "promise unseen in most young gears". Apparently. But he was worried. For one thing, Prescott had ran away, the coward. And he just wasn't sure to accept it or not, for reasons he couldn't understand.

But it was there.

Nobody knew either than him. Anthony was dead, and he was the only one he would of told. His parents would be all "do what you want to do" and that crap. But he didn't know what he wanted. Clay would be too encouraging, wouldn't let him think for himself. Ben would mirror his parents. One wouldn't help at him at all and the other would help him too much.

So, he didn't tell anyone.

And he wouldn't tell anyone anyways. He was, truthfully, apalled at the cowardice of the previous batch of Onyx Guard. Leaving with Prescott instead of staying behind to protect the COG.

He thought about it a bit longer, then he couldn't stand it. The invitation, the cowardice...he tore the pamphlet in two and threw it into the air, watching as the pieces slowly drifted to the ground.

Then he got disgusted by that, and stomped out of the room, leaving the ripped sheets of paper to drift to the ground, silent and alone.

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Mini chapter.


	8. War and Revelations

Disclaimer: Did I mention that I own nothing? Least of all Gears of War?

This chapter is brought to you by my brand new netbook.

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Still in a foul mood, David bumped into Jim. "Oh, sorry, Jim." He apologized. Then he noticed the look on Jim's face. "What's wrong?"

"We saw...saw some Locust. Our snipers killed a few, and the rest ran off, but there's a lot. I was coming to get you to see if you'd help..." Jim responded.

"Oh. Crap. Of course I'll help." David replied. "I'll get my armor and weapons." He whirled around and ran for his room, where he took out his longshot. He put on his armor and walked out, to the top of the wall.

Lo and behold, Jim was right. There was a good deal of Locust running about. Behind cover. David cursed, realizing he wouldn't be able to get a good shot, with all of them running around and hugging cover.

He hated Locust. So much. He took out his longshot anyways and aimed at one of the Grenadiers. A second later, the corpse dropped to the ground, blood spilling from the remains of the head.

That seemed only to rally the bastards.

They looked at the corpse. David took another shot and got the satisfaction of seeing a drone drop dead when he shot at it. _If a drone drops dead and no one's around to care, does anybody notice? _

Then they all roared and charged the walls. David started shooting, at first aiming, but then just shooting randomly, as that had roughly the same chance of hitting an enemy, with all of them rushing forwards in a horde.

Gunshots echoed through the air. Locust screamed and died, while others fired blindly at the walls, hoping to hit something or somebody. Many did. Stranded corpses dropped down to the horde just as members of the horde dropped to the ground.

At the top of the wall, David had a good vantage point, so he could see that the battle was hopeless. They were vastly outnumbered, and there seemed to be no end to the amount of Locust. They just kept on coming, wave after wave of squishy reptiles. Meanwhile, the Stranded only had one wave, and it's power and strength had worn out long ago.

_We're screwed. _David thought. _But I might as well kill some of these bastards before they kill me. _So he fired. Drone after drone was hit, but just as many rounds struck the ground, or a corpse, or a Stranded. Then, as he was about to kill another drone with a headshot, he heard a rumbling. _What's that? _He wondered briefly.

Then he got his answer. A corpser burst from underneath his target, dragging it into it's tunnel. David blinked.

More and more corpsers started digging into the plateau, devouring unfortunate drones. David shot them as well. _Better safe than sorry. _

The rumbling hadn't stopped, though, but David paid it no mind.

Then the rumbling intensified, and there was a great crashing sound. David whirled around to the source. An absolutely massive corpser was rising behind the fort, making it's way slowly to it. _Hey, it's mama!_

David promptly shot it in the eye. It roared, and sped up. A bit. It placed one massive claw on part of the fortress, and pulled itself up onto the roof. David looked up, trembling in fear. It was huge. David shot out another of its eyes, when he heard heavy panting and saw an injured Jim crawl up beside him. Jim was firing into the middle of the fortress defiantly. He heard corpsers shriek as he hit them. David realized they were being overrun. "Where's Bob?"

Jim shuddered. "One of the corpsers pulled him down."

"Then it's just us?" David asked. Jim nodded, still firing. David swore as the Mama Corpser looked down at them, it's huge maw slavering. It rose a claw and swept at them. David rolled out of the way, but Jim wasn't as lucky. The claw hooked him and sent him into the air, screaming. David dimly heard a crack as Jim hit the ground. The screaming stopped. David panicked, and did the natural thing.

He threw a molotov at Big Mama and jumped off. When he hit the ground, he heard something crack and something fall from his pack, but he didn't care. Yeah, it hurt. A lot. But the scene before him was more interesting.

The building wasn't made for defense, or for fire survival. It had been fortified, but to survive a raid, not a fire.

So, the whole thing was a blazing bonfire within minutes. Big Mama was cooking to a nice medium rare, the surviving corpsers had ran off, and the rest had been cooked. Overly so.

David turned, and limped off, cursing.

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Now, Clay was supposed to confront Baird, according to the little schedule he had made up. But no, he didn't especially want to do that yet, so he decided to ask Marcus something that had been clawing at him for a bit.

How did Ben die?

He wanted the truth, not a lie about Anthony's death like he'd been initially told.

So, he walked up to Marcus and asked.

Marcus looked at him for a brief second. Carmine identified empathy and grief as the emotions in his eyes. Marcus hesistated, then started. "Well, we were in the copter when we got hit by some rubble. Ben had nothing to grab onto and...plumetted into the riftworm's mouth. He fell in as well, but we were seperated from him." Marcus took a deep breath. "We found him later. Some nemacytes overwhelmed him...and he died of his wounds. He told me to tell his brothers and mom that he loved them...but then he died."

Clay blinked dully as he registered what he had been told. Ben, loyal, loyal Ben...dead. He knew that already, but the details made it worse. "Well, mom's dead and I don't know about David." He said in a somewhat flat voice. _I need to find David. _He resolved. _Before I lose him, too._

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Thank you, Mcknight, for that last idea.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


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